Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan celebrates as INEC dismisses recall petition

Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan, who represents Kogi Central, has expressed joy after the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) rejected the petition seeking her recall from the Senate.

INEC announced today that the recall petition failed to meet constitutional requirements, as the number of constituents who signed it fell short of the required 50 percent of registered voters in the constituency.

Responding on Facebook, Akpoti-Uduaghan celebrated the decision as a victory, writing: “On God it’s victory for the people of 🇳🇬. One battle down, two more to go. Deep gratitude to my beloved husband, awesome support team, magnificent people of Kogi Central and great people of Nigeria at large. INEC Nigeria, you did well.”

On March 24, some Kogi Central district members submitted a petition to INEC requesting Akpoti-Uduaghan’s recall from the Senate. Charity Omole, representing the constituents, stated they initiated the recall because Kogi Central lacked representation following the senator’s suspension.

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“We have come to recall her so that we can have a representative in the senate. We are here to tell lNEC to please follow the constitutional process for a recall so that a recall process can begin,” Omole had said.

Omole claimed there were 488,000 registered voters in Kogi Central, with over 250,000 signing the recall petition. However, INEC noted that the petitioners initially failed to provide their contact details.

On March 26, INEC confirmed it had notified Akpoti-Uduaghan about the petition and had received the petitioners’ contact information.

At a homecoming rally in Kogi on Tuesday, Akpoti-Uduaghan accused the electoral commission of bias in the recall process, stating: “What I see INEC doing is aiding and guiding petitioners on how to perfect their illicit acts. The first time the petition was submitted, they didn’t have addresses and phone numbers, so INEC went out to guide them on how to submit information that would perfect their petition. And what did they do? The petitioners, who were from the other party, the APC, submitted a letterhead. What was the name of it? Kogi Central Political Frontier. And the address there was number 4, Oboroke.”